British Open

Royal birkdale hosts the British open this week and the rest of the field is happy because Tiger Woods is nursing his injuries while winning the US open. now lets look who will come on top:

Spain again or no no no no .... but wait a minute we have Sergio Garcia a Spaniard known for his tantrums nicknamed el Nino....remember when he spit on a cup after taking his golf ball? Never mind his attitude when he leads a tournament. if his put will cooperate he might treble the Spanish season.......for those who forget easily just a reminder The euro champions; The Wimbledon trophy and now the biggest golf tournament.

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Woods you believe it! The Tiger has BEEM injured so someone ELS will win The Open. Wed LOVE to GARCIA British winner and WEIR hoping one of our LAWRIE load of hopefuls will CINK the opposition, lift the Claret Jug and carry home a CASEY full of DOUGHERTY.

Royal Birkdale will seem STRANGE with Tiger sitting at home in his slippers, but a British champion WESTWOOD go down a STORM ..

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They might as well hand Sergio Garcia the claret jug now. All summer long Spaniards have been turning up at the winner's enclosure as regularly as olives on a saucer in a tapas bar. Spain's football team won the European Championship, Rafael Nadal won the French Open and Wimbledon and Alejandro Valverde won the opening stage of the Tour de France.

Goodness me, a Spanish horse called Equiano even romped home on the opening day of Royal Ascot. Garcia must be a certainty for the Open. The 28-year-old Spaniard has already won the Players Championship this season, the biggest tournament after the majors, and finished second at last week's European Open. So he has current form and past form - Garcia's record at the Open is superb with six top-10 finishes in his previous 10 championships.

OFF Course ... Sandy Lyle struggles
with the conditions at Royal Birkdale​

SANDY LYLE walked out of the rain and into hot water after quitting The Open halfway through the opening round. The 1985 winner had completed just nine holes at a wet and windy Royal Birkdale before deciding he'd had enough.

"It is not very nice when you are only an hour and a half, two hours into The Open and you have basically chucked it," Lyle said. "I don't make a habit of it. This is the only course I have walked off twice, which is not good." R&A chief executive Peter Dawson had no sympathy for 50-year-old who still has ambitions to be Europe's Ryder Cup captain in 2010.

Dawson said: "It is disappointing. I have to say professional golfers should complete a round. "That is what they are paid to do.

"You wonder what they would think if the recorders went home at lunchtime saying there were having a bad day." Lyle struggled to get to grips wit the atrocious weather conditions and was 11 over par at the 10th hole when he stashed his clubs and walked off the course. Having finished his outward nine holes with two double bogeys and a triple, Lyle said: "I was all over the place.

"I lost momentum, I couldn't really hit the ball - hardly at all - and it was total meltdown to be honest. "I did myself more harm than good staying out there so I had to get back in. It just wasn't worth continuing; it was cold, my hands were hurting a bit from a few real skanky shots. "I think I was a bit disheartened before I got out there as I didn't think I could survive. "Normally I'm usually quite good at surviving in hard conditions but once you get beyond that point of being able to make 75 or 76 it was senseless to carry on."

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With such conditions even stars like Erne Els (Big easy), Vijay Singh finished 10 over par. Wind and light rain wasn't making easy for morning starters. ... ... With Tiger Woods missing ... ... all is there to play for, Sergio Garcia (El Nino) and the rest of the crew are still in it. The current champion Padraig Harrington is playing through pain after wrist injury .... more to come ...

According to the forecast the weather isn't gonner improve so expect the unexpected.

Players had better hold on to their hats, and everything else, at Royal Birkdale. The winds are howling and expected to get stronger through the day. Follow all the action, ............................................

I watched today for the first time, truly speaking Golf is not the same without the King. I don't how many people feel this way but the numbers never lie. I would like to see the numbers of those who watched BO this year as compared to last year. There is a possibility that those number would be much better than previous thought because "Shark" who was not expected to be even among top 20 players in this tournament is a leader by 2, and many will be interested to find out if a a 53 years old player will be the first to win major open championship at that age. Go Shark!